1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to managing services of human resources. In a preferred implementation, the invention relates to methods and systems for resource allocation on Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) projects.
2. Background Art
Resource optimization for Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) is a difficult problem for many reasons. These reasons include: human resources come from two or more organizations; those organizations often span multiple countries; sites often have different cost structures, even within the same country; and sites often have different capacities, especially when serving a distant time zone.
In addition, skill groups often have different capabilities, productivity rates, and quality levels; skill groups must align with service tiers ranging from generalist to specialist to expert; a given skill group may participate in more than one business process; and information technology affects productivity of any tier and may shift work between tiers. Other reasons why this problem is so difficult include: keeping work at its present site has particular costs and benefits, moving work from site to site has different costs and benefits, exchange rate variations change the relative costs, and timing of costs and benefits determines investment requirements.
Also, financial matters, operational matters, and business culture often impose internal constraints; logistics, regulations, and statutes often impose external constraints; and rapid and/or extensive business transformation may conflict with constraints. Further, slow and/or limited business transformation may not achieve desired results; assumptions are subject to unknown amounts of uncertainty; and as business conditions or business strategy change, the optimal solution may change.